


Fish food

by drummer_boy



Series: Awkward Monsters [2]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Dragon Michael, Food, Gen, Merman Luke, Supernatural Elements, Sydney - Freeform, Vampire Ashton, Werewolf Calum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-18 10:00:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7310482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drummer_boy/pseuds/drummer_boy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mermen aren't too common around school, and though Luke expected weird questions, he certainly didn't expect <cite>this</cite>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fish food

**Author's Note:**

> In which Luke meets Ashton and Calum for the first time! If you were to create a timeline for this AU, I'd say this would be somewhere near the beginning.
> 
> Ashton is 14, Michael 13, and Calum and Luke are 12

Luke sits in the school cafeteria, he’s making sure nobody takes any chairs away from his table so he know there’s enough space for Michael and his friends when they arrive.

He looks around while he waits for them to turn up. He notices a group of girls talking loudly and showing off fangs and claws. A few tables over another guy starts floating above his chair. A girl accidentally knocks over a chair with her reptile-like tail, and he sees a fight break out between a water elemental and a ghost near the lockers.

He doesn't do this often, look at the people around him. Usually Luke just sticks to himself and eats his lunch at home, but today he promised Michael to eat with him, and he'd get to meet Michael's friends, too.

This was the first time he was going to meet them. Michael’s friends, that is. Luke didn’t even know they all went to the same school until yesterday, when he and Michael had hung out near the pool where Luke had swimming practise. It'd become a regular thing for them; Michael often stops by to watch Luke and then walk him home. Luke's honestly kind of glad Michael got pushed into the pool once, otherwise he might never have started talking to the boy he now calls his best friend.

He's pulled from his thoughts when he sees a familiar mop of red hair walking through the cafeteria door, and he waves as soon as Michael spots him. The boy makes his way over to Luke’s table, and he sees two guys follow him. Those  _must_ be his friends.

“Hey, Luke!” Michael greets him. He takes the seat next to Luke, and the two other boys sit across from them.

“This is Ashton,” he points at the sandy-blond boy with glasses who smiles at him, “and Calum.” He points to the other boy opposite of him, who had brown skin and dark hair.

“Nice to meet you.” He says.

Calum unpacks his lunch and digs into it before anyone could say anything.  _Okay._

“So, uh. You’re a- A Mermaid?” Ashton asks hesitantly.

Luke smiles, glad that he's not the ‘your new friend’s cooler friends who make you question yourself’ kind of type.

He nods. “Merman, actually.” He bites into his sandwich.

“For real?!" He pipes up. "Oh man, I thought Mike was lying about that! Holy shit, I’ve never met a Merperson before. I have so many questions, wow! What’s it like underwater?” Luke nearly chokes on his food at the enthusiasm Ashton suddenly shows.

“It’s alright. I mean, I haven’t really grown into everything yet, but I’m on the swim team.”

"That's how we met." Michael says with a big smile.

“Wait, don’t you get a tail and everything when you touch water?” Ashton cocks his head to the side. He hasn’t even touched his bag yet, was he not hungry? Even Michael had started heating up his chicken nuggets.

Luke shakes his head. He likes the boy’s curiosity.

“I don’t get a tail, maybe when I get older, but even that’s not certain. Something with dominant and recessive genes, I guess. I _am_ developing my gills, though.” Luke pulls the neck of his sweater down and turns his head so Ashton could see. His gills have only started developing a couple months ago, and they’re not even functional, but you could see them very well and Luke is pretty proud of them! He honestly can’t wait to be able to breathe underwater.

Ashton -instead of reacting excited like Luke expected him to- turns white and brings his hand in front of his mouth and nose. _What?_

Luke’s about to ask him what’s wrong when Calum drops his hamburger and reaches for Ashton’s backpack. He pulls out a sports bottle and shoves it in Ashton’s face.

“Ash, Ashton. _Breathe_ , you idiot. Oh my God.” Luke notices the flash of Ashton’s small fangs before the boy starts sipping on whatever the bottle contained.

Calum looks at Luke apologetically. “He’s turning Vampire.” He says. Ashton nods in affirmation.

“That explains. And you’re-?”

“Werewolf.” Calum’s eyes seem to light up gold for a fraction of a second. _Alright_. A werewolf and a vampire. Luke could deal with that.

_Hold up_.

“Wait you’re- and you’re a. And you’re friends?” Luke can’t believe it. Vampires and werewolves absolutely _hated_  each other, right?

Calum chuckles and pulls Ashton in for a side-hug. “We’ve been friends ever since we were born! No way are we going to let a stupid stereotype tear us apart.” Ashton nods again, he appears to have regained some color in his face.

Luke feels a weird kind of happy, knowing that the two remained friends after they found out what they were. He smiles and bites into his sandwich. He’s actually pretty hungry.

Ashton puts his bottle down and smiles at Luke. "Sorry about that, I'm still getting used to my- my insticts and everything."

"I get it. Sometimes my skin gets too dry and I have to pour a bottle of water over my head to keep breathing." Luke smiles when he sees he's made the boy laugh.

"And can you like, speak to fish?" The vampire asks.

"What? I don't.  _What?"_

Michael looks up. "Whoa. That's a thing you can learn?!"

"I dunno.  _Maybe_ _?!_ None of my family's the same species as me, though, so I don't know."

"Dude, that's so awesome!" Calum nearly yells.

Luke's confused. "What is?"

"You get to learn all this new stuff about yourself as you grow up! I already know exactly what'll happen to me and when. Werewolves are so common."

"Vampires, too." Ashton adds.

"I even come from an all-werewolf family so I'm like,  _extra_ normal. Nothing exciting is gonna happen to  _me_." Calum pouts. Luke doesn't know if he's trying to look like a puppy on purpose or not.

"Have you shifted yet?" He carefully asks the boy.

"Nope. My sister did when she was 15, though. So it's probably still a couple of years for me until I do."

"Well there you go! You're gonna learn to walk on all fours then! You get to experience the world as a wolf, isn't that exciting?"

The corners of Calum's mouth twitch up. "Yeah, I guess so."

He bites into his hamburger again, and then starts to sniff the air like a- well, like a dog, and Luke has to restrain himself from laughing at the oddly hilarious sight. The werewolf turns his head towards Luke and he feels slightly intimidated by his look.

“You’re eating tuna? For real?”

Luke looks down at his tuna sandwich. “Yeah, what’s wrong?”

"Dude. That’s fish. Aren’t you eating like your own species or something?” Luke shoots him a questioning look.

“Whoa, I didn’t know you ate fish. Are you a cannibal?” Michael joins in.

“Okay, hold up. What the hell?” Luke looks from one boy to another. “I’m- I’m not a fish, okay? I’m not even related to- That doesn’t even make sense!” Luke buries his head into his hands and sighs. He can feel the other guys' looks on him.

He looks up again, hoping that he could bring some sense into these guys.

“It’s like,” He directs towards Michael. “If I were to ask you why you’re not offended by blowing out a candle, when you’re made of fire yourself. It’s not true and actually a pretty ignorant thing to say.”

Michael seems to get it, and Calum nods in understanding too.

Ashton sips from his bottle again. He's looking, proud, almost?

“Besides, I’m pretty sure I’ve got more in common with Sirens than actual fish, anyway.” He smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope the story makes a bit of sense, and if not, the next few parts will hopefully clear thing up!
> 
> Talk to me on Tumblr: [@clrummer-boy](http://www.clrummer-boy.tumblr.com)


End file.
